At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned Bustler from the previous week that are worth checking out. With the Summer Olympics already underway, competition surely... View full entry
Minimalist furniture. Craft beer and avocado toast. Reclaimed wood. Industrial lighting. Cortados [...]
The interchangeability, ceaseless movement, and symbolic blankness that was once the hallmark of hotels and airports, qualities that led the French anthropologist Marc Augé to define them in 1992 as "non-places," has leaked into the rest of life. [...]
This confluence of style is being accelerated by companies that foster a sense of placelessness … Airbnb is a prominent example.
— theverge.com
Nicholas Korody previously explored this phenomenon, of supposedly idiosyncratic Airbnb styling converging on the generic.Related on Archinect:Airbnb turns to urban planning as it looks towards the future of home-sharingAfter allegations of racial discrimination and #AirbnbWhileBlack fallout... View full entry
“The best way to describe what we’re trying to create is a ‘biomechanical cow’s stomach’,” said Rachel Armstrong, coordinator of the Living Architecture (LIAR) research project. LIAR's aim is to develop a building block material that uses living microorganisms to clean wastewater... View full entry
It's finally arrived: the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is tonight. Technically, the Games are already underway (soccer competitions began on August 3), but the bulk of events will take place after the ceremony. And chances are for those in the U.S., you're... View full entry
To some it’s the Brighton Pole, to others it is Sussex’s supersized lollipop. Naughtier minds have dubbed it “the cock and ring”. Before it has even opened, the south coast’s new observation tower has gathered a gaggle of nicknames – and you can see why, when its creators insist on calling it the British Airways i360.
To opponents, it may still be the iSore, a Chernobyl chimney despoiling the beach. It could have been designed to feel less like a corporate entertainment lounge on a stick.
— Oliver Wainwright | the Guardian
But by night, when it glows like a sword plunging down from the heavens, it is hard to resist. Come the Pride festival this weekend, when the i360’s programmable LED lights will form a dazzling rainbow, there might prove to be no better symbol for the city than this great throbbing shaft.For... View full entry
The French artist who goes by JR, known for flyposting large-scale photographs in cities around the world, has set up shop in Rio, just in time for the Olympic opening ceremony this Friday. As part of his ongoing worldwide Inside Out project, and under the invitation of the IOC, he's installed... View full entry
Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced that the newly-formed government will delay making any decisions about building a major nuclear power plant—the first in a generation—until the fall.Economists reacted with alarm to the announcement, according to Bloomberg, since the deferral... View full entry
Today, Airbnb is revealing a new division tasked with inventing new futures for the company, called Samara. Airbnb is also unveiling Samara’s first project: a communal housing project designed to revitalize a small town in Japan. That model isn’t meant to be a one-off. After this project, Airbnb will look to scale it to other declining small towns across the world. The idea is that Airbnb could become a force not only in sharing homes, but in urban planning. — FastCo.Design
Airbnb's experiment in urban planning was sparked by the success of an elderly woman in a rural Japanese town, Tsuyama Okayama, who listed her home on the site. While near Japan's most famous cedar forests, the town didn't receive many tourists.But build it and they will come: soon, tourists... View full entry
At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned Bustler from the previous week that are worth checking out. Check out recap #119 for the week of July 25-29, 2016.A closer... View full entry
Famous rapper, fashion designer, husband of Kim Kardashian West and incorrigible enfant terrible Kanye West announced his desire to design for Ikea in a recent interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1."I have to work with Ikea—make furniture for interior design, for architecture," he told... View full entry
We're now about a month past the UK's historic 'Brexit' vote to leave the European Union, and, well, lots has happened. David Cameron stepped down as Prime Minister, and was replaced two weeks ago by fellow Conservative, Theresa May. The economy has drastically slowed down as the value of the... View full entry
Asif Kahn and Stanton Williams will design the new Museum of London, beating out competition like BIG and Caruso St. John from the shortlist of six architects. Their winning design features a dramatic domed hall with a central staircase down into the museum's excavated subterranean space.Currently... View full entry
Monopoly is an undeniable classic. Originating over a century ago in the U.S., in the era of Rockafellers and Carnegies, it was first known as “The Landlord’s Game”—a didactic tool protesting the power of, well, monopolies. Its current form of winner-takes-all buyouts has dominated since... View full entry
Sunday was supposed to be move-in day for many athletes, but the leader of the Australian Olympic delegation said its athletes would not be checking in because of problems with the gas, electricity and plumbing. [...]
delegations from Britain, New Zealand and other countries were experiencing similar problems in the village, which is in an area of western Rio called Barra da Tijuca.
— nytimes.com
The official start to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will go ahead on August 5, despite ongoing concerns over the spread of the Zika virus, political upheaval, economic distress, polluted competition waters, and now, questionable athlete facilities.More from the New York Times:Olympic... View full entry
At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned Bustler from the previous week that are worth checking out. Check out recap #118 for the week of July 18-22, 2016.Shortlist... View full entry
